Transition

Concentration of CO2 in the Atmosphere

August 7 Green Energy News

World:

SunPower’s Fab 4 facility to produce 350 MW of solar panels annually in the Philippines, will start up in 2015 and reach full capacity until 2016. After that, Fab 5 may be ready for solar panel production by 2017, and will have a solar panel production capacity of 700 MW or more. [CleanTechnica]

India may emulate a solar pricing model that made Germany and Spain the biggest markets for the technology, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to spur renewable energy. Germany has installed 35 GW of solar compared to India’s 2.4 GW, according to data from Bloomberg. [Livemint]

Wircon, a German renewable energy company, has teamed up with Sino-American solar power specialist SPI to target the UK solar photovoltaic market. They plan to set up a joint venture company to develop solar energy projects in the UK, with an initial target of 55 MW. [The Construction Index]

The World Bank Group has committed $5 billion for energy projects in six African countries as part of US President Barack Obama’s Power Africa initiative. The six beneficiary countries – Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, and Tanzania – will receive support. [Energy Matters]

As coalition forces leave the old Afghan Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, they plan to take diesel generators with them, according to the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. The generators provide much of the province’s electricity. [Motherboard]

In sub-Saharan Africa, only 8% of the population in rural areas has access to mains electricity, but mini-grids – localised generation, transmission and distribution of power – could change all that. [The Guardian]

US:

The State of Indiana last week joined 10 other states and the Commonwealth of Kentucky in a lawsuit challenging the legality of the US EPA’s new Clean Power Plan, which aims to achieve targeted reductions in carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants. [NUVO Newsweekly]

New England States Committee on Energy, a group of the governors’ utility regulators, decided to delay discussions about the tariff with the New England Power Pool, an industry group, for a month or so, to consider defeat of a “clean energy bill” in Massachusetts. [Boston Business Journal]

Tesla Motors, the manufacturer and proponent of electric vehicles, might deal a crippling blow to utility companies with its plan to make renewable energy and the storage of that energy more accessible to the public. [Bakken.com]

America’s wind power market continues to boom on the back of government renewable energy incentives, but the industry’s peak body says Congress must provide assurance it will continue to support tax breaks for private investors. [Energy Matters]

Northern Power Systems, based in Barre, Vermont, a next generation renewable energy technology company and maker of wind turbines, has announced financial results for its three and six month periods ended June 30, 2014. Revenues have tripled while the net loss has fallen. [Vermont Biz]

Conservative groups failed Tuesday in a coordinated effort to unseat several moderate House Republicans. Despite a flood of negative mail in the final weeks of the campaign, all of the targeted members appear to have survived their primary challenges, several by wide margins. [KCUR]